In some instances, computing devices, such as handheld personal computers and palm-size personal computers, are capable of recording voice notes for later retrieval. Such computing devices typically include a voice recording application for recording the voice, playing it back, and storing the voice notes. The voice recording application typically includes a tool bar having software buttons relating to play, stop, pause, fast forward, rewind, and record, along with a list view displaying all of the recorded voice notes.
When a user chooses to record a voice note, the user either presses a hardware record button or a software record button within the voice record application. Typically, the hardware record button is wired to execute the voice recording application and to push the software record button within the voice recording application. The voice record application records the voice until the button is depressed. The voice recording application saves the voice note as a file and stores the file for later retrieval by the user. Typically, the file is stored within a central directory. The voice record application includes a list view that displays the voice files for the user's information. If the user wishes to play back one of the voice notes, the user finds the voice note from the view list, selects the voice note, i.e. by highlighting the voice note, and selects play. The voice recording application plays the voice note back to the user.
Such systems have disadvantages. One such disadvantage is that the storage of the voice notes is in the central directory. This is inconvenient for the user. The list view lists all the voice recordings stored within the system, making organization of the voice notes difficult. Another disadvantage of such systems is that a user cannot associate the voice note with other data. For example, if the user is viewing a person's contact information and records a voice note regarding directions to the person's house, the voice note is stored within the central directory, not with the contact information. Therefore, improvements are desirable.